Tackling youth unemployment: Is the Government scheme working?

We’ve blogged before on the debate about the legality and legitimacy of schemes that are aimed at increasing employment rates for specific age groups. One of the most prominent in the UK is the Government’s Youth Contract scheme.

As reported here in The Independent, figures released this week show that this scheme (part of the Government’s work programme) had only found work for 10% of the young people targeted.

The scheme, which aims to tackle long-term youth unemployment, offers businesses wage incentives of up to £2,275 for taking on a young person who has been out of work for at least six months.